Barnes & Noble lands new partners

BarnesandNoble.com, the division of Barnes & Noble (BKS), announced it has added two more online marketing deals to its war chest, cementing partnerships with search engine WebCrawler and yellow page directory InfoSpace.

In a separate announcement, WebCrawler announced it would follow the lead of its parent Excite (XCIT) by introducing 15 channels that will organize content and new services available on the Web site.

Steve Riggio, Barnes & Noble's chief executive, noted both deals are central to the online division's attempt to pull in customers who frequent other sites.

"The WebCrawler agreement is a cornerstone our strategy to extend the reach of our book titles, editorial content, and community to WebCrawler users and to produce a unique book-shopping experience," he said in a statement.

The BarnesandNoble.com two deals are part of a slew of partnerships the bookseller has forged as it attempts to dominate the online market for books, which analysts predict will explode in the next few years. In order to be successful online, establishing such relationships ahead of the competition is crucial. (See related story)

According to the announcements, BarnesandNoble.com content will be integrated into both the WebCrawler and InfoSpace sites, which will receive commissions on every book sold. In addition, BarnesandNoble.com will carry InfoSpace content; WebCrawler will feature the bookseller's database, which allows online shoppers to locate book titles and authors.

WebCrawler's unveiling of new content and services follows a similar move by Excite earlier this summer. The 15 channels will offer free email, chat, and instant messaging services as well as information available on other Web sites.